L'Arco is a comfortable and friendly Italian restaurant, with a traditional menu and wine list. Catering for private parties of up to 45 people is available upon request.
User Reviews
Anonymous
Feb 4, 2010
A most excellent lunch before the theatre matinee. Very welcoming staff with an extremely varied menu including a Specials menu. Food was very good, served in good time and nice and hot. Also well presented.
Prices are pretty competitive and you get what you pay for and that was excellent. House wine was good and the recommendations of the staff were helpful.
Not rushed but pleasantly attentive and very Italian. I would go again and recommend it it others.
I've been coming to L'Arco since the early 80's as a regular when I worked down the road in Westminster - and since retiring a few years ago, I now bring a bunch of former colleagues there every few months for our regular catch-up.
L'Arco's history is as lovely as the restaurant itself. It opened before, and has still outlasted so many of the other restaurants in the area. Watching others eateries and restaurants come and go for decades, L'Arco has remained a well-loved part of the Belgravia restaurant scene. This small but inviting restaurant breathes experience of how the traditional Italian way of life and food-based socialising should be done. The menu is extensive, but still the family that run this place will happily adapt any meal if their guests have any particular requests. It's a flexible menu which can only mean it's all made fresh and to order, which is rare these days, yet which was the very signature of italian dining, and tastes just right. I doubt you could 'make your own meal' in these dreadful chain "italian restaurants" like Pizza Express or Ask which now unfortunately dominate the area.
My personal favourite dish has always been the veal cannelloni. It's a traditional choice, but they make it to perfection, and I rarely drift from this menu choice, although my old colleagues are usually more experimental. Thank you Luigi and family, you've become quite special to me and my colleagues, and I look forward to visiting you again at L'Arco soon.
A wonderful family run restaurant recommended to us by the Goring, a great local hotel. We live in France but also have a home in Italy, so we know when we come across authentic Italian and L'Arco is that. A charming, welcoming restaurant with good home cooked food, we are glad to have found this little gem.
L'arco restaurant is a lovely family run restaurant.
We went quite early before the show and the atmosphere was very nice and romantic. When we were about to order our food we had the chance to be served by the very friendly owner of the place, Mr Luigi.
The food was excellent and the menu and the wine list were suitable for several budgets. I had as a starter asparagus with Parmesan cheese and Italian Parma ham, the combination of these three ingredients was an explosion of flavour! As a main course a trout cooked in a light lemon sauce served with steamed vegetables, lovely!
Unfortunately, as the show was going to start, we had to go without trying the deserts but just when we were about to leave Mr Luigi invited us to come back after the show for the desert! (without having to re-order a whole meal..)
The home made cream-caramel and the Italian Limoncino liqueur was an happy ending for our beautiful evening in the heart of London.
If you are looking for a nice and informal family restaurant where you can relax, enjoy beautiful Italian food and get to know the whole family who runs it.. than this is the place!
I visted the resturant after looking at the reviews on line and decided to book a table.
As we were going to the theatre just around the corner and the performance didn't finish until 10.30pm nneeded to find somewhere local to eat late. The resturant web site said that last orders were 11.30pm.
What a mistake!!
The show ran a little late therefore we did not arrive until 10.45pm which didn't to please the waiter as he made a point at letting us know.
I ordered the seafood pasta and my wife ordered a pizza. I am sure the pizza came from a supermarket(about 8inches in diameter)and tasted just like you would buy frozen. The pasta was overcooked and the sauce I am sure was out of a jar.
On being served our food 3 young girls of around 18 years old came into the resturant and it was obvious they had had to much to drink. They asked the owner if they order food can they use the toilet. They then ordered a pizza between them and asked for a single glass of the cheapest achoholic drink and proceed to talk on the mobile phone. The resturant is very small therefore effected everybody.
I know it is not up to me to select who eats in the resturant but the owner should have asked them to leave instead of being greedy and selling them food and drink and ensured that other diners have a pleasant evening.
The waiter then carried out black bags of rubbish and emply bottles through the resturant whilst we were still eating. I think they wanted to close.
I would not bother to eat in this resturant again and would suggest that other customers think twice as I think that it is the type of resturant that serves you once and if you bother to come back again it is a bonus.
You would do far better going to a Pizza Express or Ask for Italian food as the food there is far better and reasonably priced.
We always enjoy eating at l'Arco - the Italian cuisine is wonderful and very good value, the atmosphere is friendly and the service excellent. The restaurant is very convenient for our theatre visits just round the corner too.
L'Arco is an intimate restaurant with good 'home cooking' Italian cuisine - love the fact that it is a welcoming family run place - so rare these days. Visit whenever I can!
Found l'Arco through a search of restaurant websites, and thought it looked a suitable place for a casual weekday dinner.
There is a very good reason why they don't display their winelist outside: it's unbelievably extortionate! £25 for a bottle of Asti(!) anyone?? Asked for a bottle of house white instead (no description given on menu), which came in a label-less bottle. Needless to say, it was completely undrinkable.
As for the service ... our waiter brought over the specials list after we'd ordered from the main menu. This could have been overlooked, if he hadn't also been extremely rude - since when has it been the waiter's role to tell a customer that they're in a bad mood?! (Which, incidentally, I wasn't until I encountered this man.) Having complained about the house wine, the waiter then launched into a diatribe about it being one of the "best Italian wines". Hmmm.
Quite frankly, I'm not willing to be spoken to like that, or fleeced by a wine list, so we left without eating. Tip to the management? Know your competition: there are plenty of places nearby where you can get far better service, in a far nicer environment and with a sensible, good quality winelist.
Happened across L'Arco Restaurant last night pre-theatre. The atmosphere was lively and the food was very home-cooked and authentic Italian. We love Italian food, and will frequent this charming restaurant from now on. The man who ran it was very friendly, and chatty and actually tailor-made my wife a pasta dish to her own liking - exceptional for a restaurant to be that flexible with their menu these days. We had their traditional 'zabaglione' which I'd never tried before and was delicious. A real treat to find such a cosy and warm friendly restaurant, and it made a great night at the theatre even better! Thank you L'Arco.
We went last night to L'Arco. We ordered Calamari on the Specials Board which appeared billed as a main course. The portion was small and shrivelled up. We complained and were told it was a starter portion. Another one came which was equally small and shrivelled up. We complained after paying the bill the waiter was disinterested said he would tell someone. Noticed another guest unhappy as lasagne needed to be re-heated. Would never return to a restaurant that didnt value their customers.
If you are in victoria you must visit this restaurant, It is superb. Traditional italian cuisine and service. If you are going to the theatre just around the corner then this is a must but get there early. We went at 1730 and it filled up pretty quickly after this, and on a monday night too. The service was fast and efficient. The food was excellent and typically Italian. I met the owner who was charming and didn't even know he was featured on the internet. he dosn't really know anything about computers, but his son keeps telling him to get up to speed.
As a restaurateur myself I recommend this restaurant.
good luck
My wife and I visited this warm, pleasant restaurant in May 2004 and our son was there a year later and in both cases the experience was spectactular. The food, though basic, is excellent, the service is attentive and friendly and the prices are quite reassonable. The wine list isn't bad either. The same family has owned this restaurant, which is not far from Buckingham Palace, for more than 30 years. Obviously, they are doing something right. The guests appear to be mostly locals, but even an American couple felt right at home in the jovial atmosphere that surrounds this restaurant. We have nothing negative to say about the place. It's a welcome respite from the typical hustle and bustle
